Youngsters’ preparation for ASEAN Community highlighted

Hanoi, (VNA) – The Vietnam Academy of Social Science (VASS) on May 24 held a conference to help the youth get a deeper understanding of the ASEAN Community, and receive information so that they can better integrate into the community.

At the end of 2015, the ASEAN Community made its debut, setting out three foundational pillars of a Political-Security Community, Economic Community and Socio-Cultural Community, marking a new level of growth for the grouping.

According to Dr. Vo Xuan Vinh, Secretary of VASS’s Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the ASEAN Economic Community poses great challenges to the association’s newer member countries, including Vietnam , in terms of production and skilled workforce.

The free movement of skilled labours among ASEAN member countries may cause Vietnamese workers to lose skilled jobs to their competitors from other countries with a higher development level, he held.

Meanwhile, Le Thu Trang, a representative from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the youth should understand their position and the social situation better, in preparation for a larger and fiercer playground.

Youngsters should equip themselves with higher professional and foreign language skills, she said, pointing out that Vietnam should reform its vocational training process as well as education system to meet the ASEAN market’s requirements.

Young people’s viewpoints on the East Sea Issue was also highlighted during the event. According to Dr. Pham Xuan Hoang from the Institute of Social Sciences Information , no study has ever been conducted on this matter.

As ASEAN citizens, young scholars of the VASS should update their information of the East Sea issue, while sharpening their foreign language skills to argue on the issue at international forums, he said.

He also proposed that young researchers write articles for international magazines and make more of a presence at international forums, thus raising their voices on national sovereignty and the common interest of the ASEAN Community in settling the East Sea issue.-VNA